When I do portraits where a likeness really matters to me, I'll grid the thing off and do an under drawing in pencil or charcoal - just because I don't enjoy spending time wiping and adjusting, wiping and tweaking. I did it on this one. I usually lose the drawing as I paint, but the landmarks the drawings provide are safety and comfort to me.

I painted this one rather quickly because I was video taping the session. My Nikon shoots in 20 minute segments at this resolution and I found myself racing to get the painting finished in two segments. I've edited the tape and the video will be up soon. I'll post a link on my video page here on the blog.

This one was painted without an under drawing. The likeness is there, although her right eye should be a little higher - it's a selfie shot from a little below and doing so set up a downward angle to the relationship of the eyes which is not in my painting. That said, there is an undefinable quality to this one that is missing from the one above. Spontaneity? I'm not sure. Maybe it has more to do with the color scheme and the pose.

There are a lot of artists who maintain that one should not do underdrawing - that doing so creates a situation where you are painting between the lines rather than painting masses. David Leffel, for one, promotes this thought. On the other hand, Bernie Fuchs and countless masters did draw first. I'm interested. What do you think?

I've been painting a lot of portraits lately using photos from the Sktchy app. I've also been re-visiting some of my books on Rembrandt and thinking I'd like to return to doing some portraits in the manner of Rembrandt (I did several like that years ago), see http://www.kevinhunterart.com. So when I came across this model, two things struck me. First - it has that Rembrandt-like lighting (although it's from the wrong direction). Second - something about this pose deeply suggests Caravaggio's Medusa - even though it really doesn't look much like it.

So, while I didn't use my Rembrandt approach in building this - it has many of the hallmarks of that technique - and really inspired me to find a good model to sit for a portrait in the manner of Rembrandt.

The first week or so of April. Chilly, grey, wet and then a single morning with a clear sky. The first greens of Spring peeking here and there through the winter kill. Birds busy gathering nesting material. Small rodents skittering. Blue sky reflected in a window.

My objective was to do this painting in seven minutes. It took 22. I'll explain the seven minute timeline in a future post.

Critique: I had to spend far more time modeling the trees against the sky than I would have liked. One thing I learned to do, however, from close observation of the sky - paint a number of the branches in a darker version of the sky - the sky is always darker when peeking through holes in branches; a lesson well worth the extra fifteen minutes.

I hesitate to call these things postcards because Julian Merrow-Smith has been conducting his "Postcards from Provence" for over ten years. But, truly, that's what this is - a postcard from a place I observed that impressed me to the extent that I had to paint it. That makes it more than a snapshot doesn't it? It's something I send out that says - "Hey, look what I saw." And more than that. "Hey, wish you were here."

I've recently been working in charcoal, pastel pencil and Derwent colored drawing pencils. I've been using a variety of papers - Canford of various tints, Canson, Strathmore Charcoal pads and the paper this drawing is on: Strathmore Tints - I have both the warm tint and the grey tint.

I must say none of them really - WoW! - me. So my question to you is, for these media, do you have a paper you particularly like? I'd love to hear from you. Click on the Contact link above to reach out.

I'd like to share something I came across with you guys. I've mentioned my little problem in other posts. I am a total art supply geek. I've also mentioned earlier that I've recently gotten into charcoal. The charcoal I've been using - some of which I've had since high school, some of which I've had for about four years is really beautiful but it's pretty run-of-the-mill material.

So I stumbled across this video and being the geek I am, I'm going to go online some time this week and order me a bunch of this. While the video is impressive in itself, I found out that Juliette Aristides uses this stuff - that's good enough for me!! I'll let you know how it works out.

About Me

My name is Kevin Russell Hunter. Art and Design are my passion. I work in all media including digital. This blog is where I express my thoughts about drawing and painting as well as discuss works in progress.